I got given a third party (Phillips) 32MB module for my VAX 4000-200
recently. I have just installed it. While it seems to work I get this from
the console:
>>>sh mem
Memory 0: 00000000 to 00FFFFFF, 16MB, 0 bad pages
Memory 1: 01000000 to 01FFFFFF, 16MB, 0 bad pages
-- FDM (fast diagnostic mode) not working
Memory 2: 02000000 to 02FFFFFF, 16MB, 0 bad pages
-- FDM (fast diagnostic mode) not working
Total of 48MB, 0 bad pages, 120 reserved pages
>>>
What is FDM exactly? I suppose it is a feature that is not present on this
board as it is 3rd party, but I wonder if it can have any impact beyond
affecting diagnostics?
Thanks
Rob
I have an Alphaserver 1000A which began intermittently halting, same
as if the halt switch had been pressed. At the time it had a serial
console. I thought it might have been picking up noise on the serial
line and interpreting it as a break signal so I changed over to a
graphics console. It still halted intermittently. This problem either
went away or the following problem caused me to not notice it any more.
The machine started intermittently powering itself down, requiring it
to be switched off and back on again to reset the power supply before
it could be run again. The machine might stay running for several
hours or it might power down less than a second after switching on, or
anything in between.
Thinking that the two problems might be related, I investigated the
operator control panel on which are mounted the low voltage on/off
switch and the halt switch. I found the two switches to have little
in common and my theory to be unlikely to be correct. The on/off
switch and associated circuitry appear to be working correctly, as
does the interlock which cuts power when the lid is removed.
I tried a power supply unit from another Alphaserver 1000A and found
this did not cure the problem so I replaced the original. Thinking
that the power supply might be sensing an overload, I disconnected
the power feeds to the disks/cd/floppy and removed all the PCI cards.
The problem was still there.
When it was failing regularly, I found a line going to the power
supply which normally sat at 0V and pulsed high just as the power
supply shut down. This line did not pulse the same way when the
power was turned off normally. I suspect it is a signal from the
system board to the power supply requesting it to shut down, or
less likely, a signal from the power supply to the system board
signalling it has a problem and is about to shut down.
I have a service guide which mentions the possibilty of the power
supply shutting down due to a fan failure or high temperature but
it doesn't give any details on how this works or even how to find
out if it is happening.
Does anyone have any detailed information about the power control
system in the Alphaserver 1000A or any helpful suggestions?
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
Hi,
sorry for the spam, but.... There are some DDP-516 manuals on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230647266921
I am trying to get those... Because I don't have the manuals for my own
real DDP-516 (I mostly use PDFs and have some borrowed).
So if anybody of this list is bidding on it - please have some mercy!
Kind regards,
Philipp
William Donzelli, I've tried emailing you a few times about those VT220s
that you may be getting rid of. Please respond.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
Part of my semi-regular castabouts, I found that Batronix
(http://www.batronix.com/) makes chip burners with Linux software. Has
anyone here used their products?
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
I managed to scavenge a Tandy 102 earlier today (1988 build, 32K memory).
Physically it's in good condition, and powers up, but the display's a bit
unwell, having an entire row of dead pixels 4 up from the bottom, and a
32-pixel high column of dead pixels 22 pixels in from the left (on just the
lower half of the screen, the upper 32 in that column are OK).
The fault seems a little bit more subtle than that, however; sometimes
(depending on which app I'm in, and the angle of the screen, and what I
type) I can see some garbage in the first two characters (12 pixels) of the
dead row - usually much fainter than normal "on" pixels (barely even
visible), and occasionally a fully-on pixel, but at the wrong x-offset for
whatever I've typed.
Question is, where to point the finger? I've no idea how the 102 addresses
the screen, although when I was checking it over inside before powering on
I noticed all of the HD44102 ICs - are each of these responsible for a
small rectangular area, or is the relationship between them and their
pixels more complex? Could a fault with one potentially knock out / corrupt
an entire display row?
Does anyone have a simple BASIC listing for a main memory check? That could
be useful (one particular reason for mentioning that is that when I first
powered the machine up, it had a non-default date and showed some files
present, but in trying to scroll through the contents of one it reset, lost
the files, and set the date back to 1900).
I already re-seated the cabling between display and the main logic board;
the cable itself looks to be in good condition with no signs of severe
distress, but I'll check the individual lines with a meter just to be sure.
cheers
Jules
> Anybody happen to know whether a bare Decmate like this (no
> keyboard, no disk drives) should display anything on-screen upon
> power-up?
>
I just tested mine (has COMM board). It displays nothing on the CRT until
the keyboard is pluged in. After that it displays setup.
>
>For all of its faults it was still the market leader.
>
>Did you know you could plug a B&W TV camera into the back of a VT100 and see
>the picture on the screen? I did it at Dec Park (Reading UK) one day and
>drew a large crowd.
>
I can remember the tiny on/off switch and the vertical DB25 connector but that
is all I recall about the back of a VT100. I guess there must have been a BNC
connector? I do vaguely recall occasionally having to dissuade academic staff
>from plugging their thinwire ethernet segment into the back of their terminal but
I don't remember which type. I suppose it was probably the VT100.
Did the terminal automatically sense an external video connection or was it
necessary to manually disable the video generated internally? I guess it was
probably expecting 525 lines, 60Hz but could cope with 625 lines, 50Hz?
My VT220 has a BNC connector on the back but in this case it is an output. It
produces a nice picture on a monochrome 625 line 50Hz monitor after adjusting
the vertical hold.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
>
> >
> > A great trick that I learned at the (awesome) ASR-33 workshop at
> > VCF-E is to replace the striker with a piece of vinyl tubing. You can
> > get it at pretty much any hardware store. Use 7/8"L, 7/16"ID, 5/16"OD
> > vinyl tubing.
>
>How does that work? The original rubber hammer is a cap that fits over a
>stud on the metal actuator. You surely don;'t put a collar of tubing
>around the stud, do you/ If so, what's to stop the end of the stud
>hitting the type cylidner?
>
>Or do you somehat put a piece of the tubing as a slever ovr the complete
>actuator, puting it on from,the top?
>
Tony,
Exactly, fit it snuggly over the whole thing like a sleeve. Remove
the old gummy pad first. Works like a charm and will last for a very
long time. This way you don't have to cut a replacement pad and then
find an adhesive.
Bill
